Just to the west of the Houses of Parliament is the majestic Westminster Abbey. Apparently there’s been a shrine at the site for nearly 1,500 years and a stone abbey was completed here in around 1050. The Abbey itself has been through various religious guises, first as an abbey, later as a cathedral and now, technically, a church – although the traditional name has firmly stuck.

The Abbey is most famously used for coronations and burials and each category boasts an impressive array of historical figures. The last Anglo-Saxon king before the Norman invasion of 1066, Harold, was crowned here (indeed, the Abbey is depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry), as was the current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II for that matter. On the other hand, those permanently residing within the Abbey include Edward the Confessor, who is interred beneath the Great Altar, as well as the likes of Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens and Rudyard Kipling who are collected with many other literary figures in what has become known as Poets’ Corner – which also memorials for Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, amongst others.

The Abbey is still a functional church, although there is now also a museum at the site, as well as regular exhibitions and the chance to stroll around the impressive cloisters.